Bending The Rules
by Shadow Padawan
Summary: Pansy finally manages to win Susan over during Seventh Year, but things get unexpectedly tense when they are caught by Snape during a snogging session.


Work Text:

Pansy wishes that Susan would wear her hair down more often. The girl has beautiful, flowing read hair and Pansy adores being able to run her fingers through its silky strands, feeling it pass between her fingers. When the sun falls at a certain angle, Susan's entire head seems to glow, almost as though she has a huge halo around her. For all that Pansy knows that she should not be desiring a Hufflepull or a half-blood or any _girl_ at that, she cannot help herself. Susan is simply too beautiful, too alive to be left unnoticed. Perhaps if Pansy was busy with preparations for her marriage to Draco, things would be different, but with the war, all such things had to be put aside. Pansy is rather pleased.

There are many things that please Pansy that should not. Like the Carrows for example. Not because she likes them as teachers – mostly, they're useless in the classroom – and not because she likes their way of punishment – Pansy teases her peers verbally or duels but she would never torture children much younger than her – but because they made _this_ possible. Susan, like so many foolish Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, had wanted to believe that she could stand up for herself, that she was tough and brave and noble and all that other fairytale nonsense. Yet a single detention with the Carrows had left her sobbing. Pansy had found her in a girls' bathroom that night, sobbing and trying to heal the burns on her arms. Pansy's healing charms were mediocre at best but going up to the medical wing was too risky and her hand was steadier at the moment than Susan's.

From then on, Pansy had placed Susan under her unspoken protection. She knew what her housemates whispered about it, although no one took it too seriously. She was the Malfoy Bride and Draco himself was too busy with the war to notice. Pansy, however, was in a much better position to protect Susan if people knew indirectly that that was what she was doing. She had no standing with the Carrows, of course, but she did with her Housemates and the few other "loyalists" scattered throughout the other Houses. Susan balked at Pansy's advances at first, but soon relented to being protected. It is easier for her to survive the pressure if she isn't constantly being bullied and cursed at unexpected moments. When Pansy first kisses her, Susan pushes her away, only to pull her back a second later and press their bodies flush against each other.

Now they are once again pressed against each other in a hidden alcove of a deserted hallway. Pansy unweaves Susan's braid and runs her fingers through the other girl's hair. Their breath mixes as their mouths devour each other. Pansy traces the soft skin under Susan's chin, runs a hand down her neck, pulls the other girl closer by the waist until their pelvises meat and rub against each other. Pansy's breath comes in ragged gasps. She fidgets with Susan's tie, undoing it and letting it drop to the ground, then undoes her own. The two colorful strips of fabric, intertwined, seem bright against the stone floor.

"This is madness," Susan whispers as she gets a fist-full of Pansy's hair.

"So?" Pansy smirks and kisses her again. They'd been doing this for a few weeks now and Pansy has started to slowly forget that outside these walls there is a real war going on, a war that is putting people she loves in danger. A war which could make her dalliance with Susan nearly treason. But inside the castle, there is Susan and that's as close as having the sun beside you and Pansy needs no further convincing that that.

The rustle of robes behind them is so sudden that Pansy has little time to react. She pushes Susan away and slightly to the side so that she might be able to stand in front of the other girl and reaches for her wand, in case the person who has disturbed them is a student. Pansy thinks she is ready for the Carrows, too. They won't hurt _her_ at the least and she can always take care of Susan after. What she doesn't expect is the ominous swirl of black and the familiar sallow face of her former Head of House. "Headmaster!" Pansy's hand falls away from her wand. She literally has no protection against one the Lord's favorites. Snape might not be a High Officer officially, but he is Headmaster here and Voldemort trusts him nearly implicitly, or so Draco says.

Snape glowers down at them. Pansy can feel Susan's burning gaze behind her and prays that the girl won't do anything foolish, like attempt to be defensive. That will only get her in more trouble.

"What do we have here?" Snape drawls. He surveys their rumpled clothing and the discarded ties, Susan's loose hair and Pansy blouse which has ridden askew. "Miss Parkinson and Miss Bones. Engaging in…unsavory behavior."

Pansy can see Susan flush out of the corner of her eyes. "Please, Headmaster," Pansy says, in the most subdued and respectful tone she can. "I can explain. Susan isn't—"

"Silence." Pansy's head snaps up. She looks at Snape with a confused mixture of terror and surprise. "Ms. Parkinson," he hisses, quietly articulating each syllable. "You have brought shame on yourself and, if this gets out, you will bring shame on your family and your future husband. Or do I need to remind you of the proper rules of etiquette for an engaged young woman? Not only that but you are engaging in acts of…moral turpitude…with a _half-blood_. Not to mention a half-blood of bad breeding."

Pansy's mouth nearly falls open. She cannot believe that Snape is choosing to dole out the reprimand to _her_. In the eyes of people like the Carrows she is practically untouchable – a Pureblood of good family with a father and brother in the Lord's ranks. But Snape stands there and dresses her down as though she were a little girl who had just rudely interrupted her parents' dinner with the Minister. "I'm…sorry, Headmaster," Pansy forces out. She is not one bit sorry, not really, but she doesn't know what to say.

"I don't expect decency from Ms. Bones, she is, after all, a half-blood with the wrong mindset. But you, Ms. Parkinson, are supposed to uphold the standards of our society. Are you not?" Pansy can feel her face starting to burn up, although she isn't certain if it's from embarrassment or anger. "Would you like your fiancé and his family to know that you have been whoring around?"

Pansy is so shocked – this is not at all like Snape, really, for all of his callousness, his jibes are usually about ability and intelligence, not propriety – that she cannot find anything to say in answer. Suddenly, Susan's voice behind her rings out with startling clarity. "Leave her alone, you bat! She hasn't done anything wrong except for trying to be herself. And look who is talking about being a half-blood. Everyone knows what _you_ are, _Headmaster_."

Pansy's horror only increases as she watches Snape's eyes narrow. Pansy catches a glimpse of his wand and her heart stutters. She can nearly feel Susan flinch. "Fifty points from Hufflepuff," Snape sneers. "And…detention. I will inform your Head of House as to what I think it should be." Pansy, still baffled, nearly sighs in relief. Hufflepuff's Head of House will certainly not take Snape's recommendation under advisement and Susan will get away with something minor just to make it look like she had done detention. Pansy also knows Snape knows this and she can't help but wonder why he is letting Susan off so easy. "Now back to your common room, girl. Ms. Parkinson, come with me."

Susan throws Pansy a frightened look. She reaches out just enough to brush her fingers across Pansy's wrist. Pansy does not dare look at her. Instead, she follows Snape down the hall and all the way up to his office. He points to the chair before his desk. "Sit."

Pansy sits, crosses her legs on instinct, just as her governess had taught her and watches Snape as he begins to dig around in some papers. "Are you really going to refer me to Headquarters or tell Draco?" Pansy finally asks, feeling petulant and somehow invigorated by Susan's show of loyalty.

Snape looks up at her with a slight sneer. "Oh course not. Do you really think I care who you snog or sleep with?" He makes a disdainful face. "But appearances are everything, Ms. Parkinson." He finally finds what he was looking for and hands it over to her. "I was coming to call you up to give these to you. One is a letter from your mother, the other from Headquarters."

"What could Headquarters want with me?" Pansy takes the letters gingerly.

"It's Dolohov's seal; I don't have authority to open it." Snape growls. Pansy can tell he is not pleased. "Now go."

She stands and goes to the door. One hand on the doorknob, Pansy turns and asks, uncertainly, "So…if Susan and I…carry on. Would you let us be? Headmaster."

Snape glowers at her. "Be discreet."

"Of course, sir," Pansy says with a half-smile of genuine gratitude. As she leaves the office, she is already imagining all the dirty things she will do to Susan when they see each other again.


End file.
